I'm going to focus on several items about how things work in this world. All are local, within our coverage area, and deal with those who work in the public sphere.

We were interested to finally hear reports about the silent Black Lives Protest that took place at Pine Bush high school over homecoming week when a group of students wore black T-shirts on Red, White and Blue Day, in support of protests against police shootings of unarmed black men, among other issues of racial tension. Principal Aaron Hopmayer saw a "teachable moment" immediately and within a week had put together a meeting between about sixty Pine Bush students and officers from Town of Wallkill and Town of Crawford police departments, state police and lawyers from the Orange County district attorney's office. The panel answered students' questions submitted in writing, prompting one state trooper to discuss his college-age daughter's involvement in the BLM movement, and how she helped him see that it was about how, "Black lives matter too, and need to be valued by police equal to white lives." There was also much talk about the situations that police officers face where violence occurs.

Afterwards, all involved spoke about how much had been gained from the gathering, and protest, despite earlier fears expressed by some in the community. More such events are planned. Talk about learning how to move forward despite the challenges posed by deep issues facing our nation.

Then there was the fact of the mother of the young man killed at a New Years Eve party coming forth about the many visits she's gotten from state police, with updates that have included the recent arrest of a local youth for having erased material from his smartphone the day after the Pine Bush tragedy.

"They know Justin and to hide any information, erase anything on the phone, not to help ... It's hurtful," she said last week in a newspaper, adding her hopes that the first arrest for evidence tampering will push others, now, to start discussing what happened that night nine months ago. In such ways things move forward.

On another front, we were glad to see that the state has decided to start pushing towards new parole regulations that would require parole board commissioners to consider both an inmate's current risk to public safety and that individual's own needs, as well as offer explanations of those findings, before making any release decision. If adopted, the proposed regulations would require the Board's release determination to incorporate an inmate's current score on a risk and needs assessment called the Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions. If the Board departs from the scores, it must specify the reason for doing so, after discussing each applicable factor, including the applicant's behavior in prison and the seriousness of the offense on the record. If release is denied, the Board must articulate reasons in factually individualized, non-conclusory terms. Additionally, the regulations would direct the Board to consider the diminished culpability due to age at the time of the crime and to weigh any demonstrated growth and maturity since the time of the offense when considering individuals serving a maximum sentence for crimes committed when they were under the age of 18.

For anyone who's been reading the columns of Matthew Hattley in our pages over recent years, that's welcome news... and responsive to true concerns. It's humanitarian.

Finally we've got to give another nod of approval to Ulster County Comptroller Elliott Auerbach, from Ellenville, for continuing to push a two percent bed tax for Airbnb customers, which could bring in over $200,000 in revenue a year, despite some objections that the legislation involved might not be legal. Hey, Auerbach does his homework, actually spoke with Airbnb about what he's proposing, and there are five other counties in New York who are working successfully with similar laws already.

Our sense, having rented rooms in our home via the company? Do it... no one gets hurt, the cost is added into the amounts spent (which are never that great) and everyone benefits.

Maybe, we think, the days of declaring all taxes bad are waning. After all, it's a small price to pay for affording more services for everyone in our communities. Which is good...

As well as humanitarian.